Dalton Smith Calls for Lifetime Bans Ahead of Puello Title Defense
The WBC light welterweight champion wants permanent penalties for PED cheats before Saturday's fight.
Dalton Smith is not letting anyone forget Alberto Puello's past. Ahead of his WBC light welterweight title defense Saturday in Sheffield, Smith put drug testing and lifetime bans squarely in the conversation.
Puello tested positive for clomiphene in 2023 and received a six-month suspension. Smith made it clear he thinks that penalty was far too light. He called the punishment "stinks" and said he is "well against it" when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs in the sport.
Smith said he is fighting for "the fighters in the sport that are clean" and argued that lifetime bans should be on the table for anyone who tests positive. He acknowledged the decision is "out of my hands" but did not hold back on where he stands.
The Sheffield champion also referenced his last outing, a fifth-round stoppage of Subriel Matias in January, saying that fight showed "sometimes you need more than just steroids" to win at the top level.
Smith enters Saturday's defense with momentum and a point to prove. A clean champion defending his belt against a fighter with a failed test on his record is exactly the kind of storyline that writes itself.
Dalton Smith is right about this, and I do not care if it is an unpopular opinion. Six months for testing positive is a joke. You get a longer suspension for trash-talking a commission official than you do for putting synthetic garbage in your body to gain an unfair advantage over a clean fighter.
Smith stopped Matias, who was a monster, in five rounds. He did it clean. Now he has to share the ring with a guy who already got caught and barely got a slap on the wrist. That should bother everyone who cares about fair competition.
Lifetime bans are aggressive, and I get why governing bodies hesitate. But the current system is broken. Six months is not a deterrent. It is a vacation.
